Dan watches a catfight among the Goddesses.
By DustinMidnight. Listen to the Podcast At Steamy Stories.
Chapter 5
It took Dan and Annabelle about an hour to drive to Dan’s childhood home. It was an old house, but well-taken care of. The front porch lights were on when Dan pulled into the driveway. He sat for a minute before finally shutting off the car’s engine.
Dan took a long deep breath and popped his neck. In the passenger seat, Annabelle smiled, clearly excited for what was about to happen.
“I can’t wait to meet your parents. I wonder what they’ll think of me.” She looked at Dan, a placid expression in her eyes.
“I’m sure they’ll like you.” Dan returned her expression with a bemused smile. He wasn’t really sure that was true. His parents were usually friendly, but he wasn’t sure how Annabelle might act. It wasn’t even that she was a god, it was that she barely kept her hands off him, even with other people around. Oh, God, what if Mom tries talking about grandkids, or notices our rings? He shuddered at the thought.
“Well, whatever happens, I’m sure it’ll go well,” proclaimed Annabelle. She bounced out of the Challenger, and Dan followed her up the porch steps and to the front door. She stood to the side as Dan knocked, not bothering with the doorbell. It had been broken for a couple of years, and Dad hadn’t really bothered to try to fix it. He was getting up there in age, and fighting with electrical work wasn’t worth it.
The door opened after a couple of minutes. Standing there was a man who looked like Dan, but older with long, graying hair and a finely trimmed salt-and-pepper beard. He stood 6'6", taller than Dan, and looked down his nose at the two people at his door.
“Hey, Dad,” Dan said. The old man nodded, looked over at Annabelle, and nodded again. Dan sometimes described his father as having the expression of a grizzly bear that looked calm but could growl at any moment.
“Dan, how’s it going?” With a large smile, his dad’s arms opened up as he suddenly gave his grown-up son a big hug. Dan groaned as the tight squeeze pushed some air out of him. Annabelle giggled at Dan looking like he was being crushed by the older man. Soon his father let go of his son and smiled at Annabelle.
“And who might this young lady be?” he asked.
“I’m Annabelle. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Fremont.”
“Please call me Gabriel. Mr. Fremont was my father.” He suddenly brought her into a tight hug. As he wrapped his arm around her and picked her a few inches off the ground, Annabelle squealed with delight. Dan was not expecting that. His father put his wife down and then groaned, rubbing his back,
“Christ, I swear, Dan, don’t get old.”
“Well, I’ll try not to pick up a box wrong and blow my back out,” Dan said with a chuckle, patting his dad on the shoulder.
“That, too. Now, I will say, she is a catch. Look at her. She’s so cute you could pick her up, put her in your pocket, and walk away.” He smiled and gestured to the two of them to step through the door. Annabelle giggled while tilting her head. “Honey, is that them?” An older woman’s voice called from the back of the house.
“Yeah, Sarah, they just walked in,” Gabriel called out. Dan and Annabelle took their jackets off, and Dan’s mother walked into the foyer. Sarah was a short, plump standing around 5'4". “Dan it’s so great to see you, and same for the pretty lady,” she said. She gave each of them a big ol’ hug.
“Heavens to Betsy, what have you been eating? Must not be much. You look as skinny as a railroad spike. Come on, you two, get in here. Dinner’s almost ready.”
- - -
Away from the pleasant moment with Demand Annabelle, Vanessa was shivering. Even with her jacket, it was rather cold. She wasn’t sure why she was out here. All she knew was Joe had brought them here.
“What are we doing here, Joe?” she asked the man who was currently wearing a white business suit.
“I told you, we’re here to help some people out. Now I need you to trust me on this.” A dashing smile appeared on his face, practically glowing in the dark alleyway. He pointed towards the other side of the street.
“Now, I need you to head over there. Just stand around for a few minutes, and you’ll see a little girl walking down the street. She’s about ten years old, and maybe a little dirty. I want you to keep an eye on her, and when she reaches the crosswalk, grab her and pull her back about fifty feet. That’s all you’ve got to do.” He chuckled and snapped his fingers, pointing toward where Vanessa should stand.
“Why?” she asked. “What’s going to happen? I mean, seriously, why me, if you know what’s going to happen?”
The corners of Joe’s smile turned up a bit more.
He assured her, “Don’t question it. It’s against certain rules for me to interfere, but for someone like you, such a beauty, you can do something. Don’t worry, I’m sure nothing will happen to you.” He chuckled, patting her shoulder. Vanessa screamed, feeling pain ripple through her stomach as though she was being stabbed. She bent over and took heavy breaths until Joe pulled away.
“Sorry, I got a little angry. But please, my dear, just do this for me. You’ll feel real good about yourself, and you’ll be doing a good deed.” He gave her the thumbs up, and his other hand moved through his slick black hair.
“If you insist,” Vanessa said. Inwardly, she shuddered, imagining him doing God knows what he could do. Somehow he had gotten her to do random things — move objects around, convince a couple of guys not to work in certain spots. She remembered how just the other day, she needed to seduce this one woman and convince her to invite her back to her place. It was embarrassing; she hated every second of it. By the end of the night, she had snuck out barely clothed.
She wasn’t entirely sure what this was all about, but whenever she tried going against Joe’s wishes, she felt a pain hit her in random parts of her body. It Wouldn’t go away until she agreed to do what he said.
“Fine, if you insist.” Vanessa bit her lip and hurried across the street as Joe had directed. She leaned against a wall and kept an eye out. Suddenly she saw the petite girl Joe had described. bundled up in a coat, with a backpack slung over one shoulder, she humming a little tune as she walked. As she passed, Vanessa fell in step behind her until the girl got to the crosswalk.
That was when she grabbed the girl, yanking her backward in large strides for over fifty feet
The young girl screamed,
“What are you doing?! What the heck?! Someone help me!” Her screams were suddenly drowned out by a loud squeal of tires. Vanessa let go just as a car swerved at high speed through the intersection and crashed into a building on the far side with a loud crunch. The car’s front end pretty much disintegrated. Vanessa left the girl as she ran back across the street to check on the driver. His face was against the now-deflated airbag that had emerged from the steering wheel, and he stirred enough to show he was alive. She took out her phone to dial 9-1-1.
A hand reached from behind her and grabbed the phone. She turned to see Joe Liesmith, who said, “He’ll live. His kind, the drunkards, somehow always manage to live. Don’t worry.” Joe took a deep breath. Vanessa could have sworn she saw white light emerging from his nose, as he looked so relaxed.
“Just what I needed. Plus, hey, you’re a hero. If you hadn’t pulled her back, that little girl would have died. Now come on. We need to get going. We have a lot of work to do. Hopefully, when this is all over with, you’ll be rewarded. You’ll get your Dan back.” He chuckled, and handed Vanessa back her phone as the two of them began walking away.
- - -
Dan and Annabelle were in the middle of their meal, enjoying the well-done steak with baked potato and corn.
“So how did you two meet?” his mother asked with a smile as she cut a piece of her steak. Dan answered, “Well, we met at the store. We bumped into each other’s cart. I joked that we should exchange numbers, so we could contact each other for insurance purposes. It just kind of happened.” He laughed and nervously scratched the back of his head. He bit his lip while Annabelle nodded and continued the story.
“Oh, yes, we ended up meeting at a bar and had a few drinks, and really, it was a magical time.” She picked the ear of corn off her plate, but froze with it halfway to her mouth. Dan noticed her eyes looked milk white. Her face twisted into a horrified expression. Gabriel looked over at her, clearly concerned, and the same for Sarah.
“Honey, are you okay?” Sarah asked, reaching over as if to pat her back. Just then, Annabelle began screaming, so loud it could have been mistaken for a Banshee in a fit of unholy rage, echoing off the walls. Everyone else in the room had to suddenly clap their hands over their ears to dull out the noise.
She stopped just as suddenly as she’d started, putting the corn back on her plate as she muttered,
“I’m so sorry! I— I— ”
She grabbed her mouth and ran off to the small bathroom under the stairs. The door slammed with a loud bang, but the sound of vomiting could still be heard from the other side of the wall.
“Dan, is she okay?” Gabriel asked.
Confused, Dan replied, “I don’t know. I’ve never seen her like this before.” He got up from his seat and walked to the bathroom door, giving it a light knock and asking,
“Annie? Are you okay?”
“I’m — blurrg! Fine, just give me a — blurrg— minute!” There were a few more retching noises, and eventually the door opened. Annabelle was hunched over the toilet. Dan saw what looked like pure black sludge in the bowl and almost retched himself. “What happened?” he asked.
“Something wrong— The natural order was messed with. Someone was fucking with death, keeping someone alive.” She inhaled deeply through her mouth.
“Is everything okay?” Gabriel called out from the hallway. Annabelle coughed as she stood up, unsteady on her feet at first, and then snapped her fingers. The sludge that had run down her shirt disappeared. She quickly reached over and flushed the toilet, but the sludge seemed to vanish into thin air rather than go down the drain. The bowl was left clean and sparkling as she closed the lid.
“Yeah, just something hit me wrong. I’m so sorry,” Annabelle assured them as she walked back to the table. Dan followed her, surprised at how quickly she seemed to go back to normal. They were going to need to have a serious talk about this when they got home.
“Oh, sweetheart, do you think it was something you ate?” Sarah asked as Annabelle sat back down. “We’re all eating the same thing now, but what did you have earlier today? Do you need to lie down? We could set you up in Dan’s old room so you could rest up a little.”
Annabelle smiled, her body now more relaxed.
“It’ll be okay. I think it might have been something from earlier. But it’s passed now. I’m so sorry if I ruined your dinner.”
“Oh, it’s all right. Just as long as you’re okay. I can get you something else to settle your stomach — maybe some saltines and 7-Up? Just relax and take your time. Besides, we can talk some more. Oh, I know! We could get Dan’s baby photos of him in the bathtub naked!”
“Mom, NO!” Dan shouted in horror. Sarah giggled with her hand over her mouth.
“Oh, honey, I wouldn’t do that to you. Maybe in the future. We don’t want to scare the poor girl off just yet.”
“Ha, I don’t think he’ll be getting rid of me that easily,” Annabelle giggled, as she rubbed her foot against Dan’s leg under the table.
“Well, is that so? Our home is your home, so if anything happens, we’re here for you.” Gabriel smiled as he raised his glass in a toast. The other three at the table drank from their own glasses.
- - -
After some cake for dessert, Dan managed to move the conversation into the foyer, where Sarah was still suggesting that he and Annabelle stay longer, even as they had their coats on. Finally, he managed to convince his parents that they needed to go.
“Please come on by again when you have a chance. Anytime,” said Sarah. Annabelle nodded excitedly.
“I might just do that. You guys seem great. And I’ve got to get that recipe for the rub you put on the steak. It was divine,” she said with a chuckle. Dan rolled his eyes at what was obviously supposed to be an inside joke.
“Well, come earlier next time to help cook, and I’ll show you all my secrets,” Sarah said with a laugh. Dan sighed as they headed off towards the Challenger. As they pulled out of the driveway, they could see Gabriel and Sarah waving from the front porch. Annabelle waved back.
As they were halfway down the block, Dan asked,
“So, what happened tonight? I mean, I’ve never seen you get sick before. I wouldn’t have thought you even could”
“Just — I don’t know what happened. All I know is someone or something messed with fate. Someone was meant to die, but somehow it got interrupted, and that person lived.”
“But isn’t that a good thing, preventing someone from dying?” Dan asked as he made a turn.
“It’s not that simple. There needs to be a balance, as fate dictates. That person is kind of a wild card now. Really, when someone messes with fate and prevents a person from dying when they’re not a god of death, it can cause chaos and destruction. Last time this happened, it didn’t end well,” Annabelle murmured as she leaned back, closing her eyes.
“What happened last time?” Dan asked while keeping his eyes on the road.
“There were two events in the last hundred years. One of them involved a god of war who felt mercy for a soldier and prevented him from dying by convincing another soldier not to kill him. Turns out that soldier was Hitler, and I think you know what happened there. The other time, it was john Wayne Gacy.”
“Yikes, that is bad…” Dan responded as he glanced over at her. She looked so relaxed, seeming to be close to falling asleep. Especially with her current body that toned down her normal beauty and curves, it almost made Dan forget that she was a goddess.
“It can be bad, though whatever happens with that survivor, only the future will tell. Going back even further, there have been some good results — but there might be chaos, too. Dan— I think I’m gonna sleep a bit. Wake me up when we get home.”
“Of course. Rest up — you’ve earned it, Annie.”
“Thank you,” Annabelle said. She sighed, and her head flopped to the left, almost falling on his shoulder. His heart nearly skipped a beat, but he concentrated on his driving, not even bothering to turn the music on.
He drove the rest of the way just listening to the road noise mixed with Annabelle’s quiet breathing, occasionally looking over to see the goddess snooze. He finally pulled into his parking space and turned the engine off. He watched her for a minute and couldn’t help but think,
Maybe it’s not too bad, us being married. He sighed, then nudged her a bit and quietly said,
“Hey, wake up there.”
He shook her on the shoulder, but Annabelle brushed him off. He got out of the car, and as he walked around to the other side, he briefly wondered what it would be like to be a god. With a sigh, he opened the passenger door, extricated the goddess from the seatbelt, and put her over his shoulder. The enhanced strength she had given him was really coming in handy as he carried her off. He brought her all the way to their apartment and put her into bed, taking her shoes off and putting a blanket over her.
Dan stayed up a little while longer. He tried watching something on TV, something about mythology, but all he could think about was the goddess in his own bed. He was also worried that something was happening that was messing with the balance of nature. There was a feeling he just couldn’t push away — a bad feeling that there was something wrong with the world.
In the early hours of the morning, Dan suddenly heard a crashing sound coming from the living room. Dan groaned and looked over, seeing Annabelle still asleep. He got up and walked into the living room. As he turned the corner, he saw the apartment’s front door broken open.
“What the hell?” he exclaimed, seeing the door hanging off the hinges. As he stood there confused, a creature ran right into him. It growled and screamed as it seemed to scurry along.
“Holy fuck! Shit!” Dan screamed.
“Where is Goddess!?” It growled as it ran up the wall, clawing its way into the kitchen, rummaging through the pantry, throwing cereal boxes to the floor haphazardly.
Dan could see it was a small creature, around three feet tall, with long red hair and black eyes, long pointy ears and slightly reddish skin. It seemed to be wearing a plumber’s jumpsuit. It suddenly turned around to hiss at Dan, who couldn’t help but scream.
He recovered enough to yell, “Hey, quit throwing my food,” grabbing a broom and quickly banging it against a cabinet. The creature hissed at him again, then jumped up and ran back into the living room.
“Where is Goddess?!” it growled once again. Dan turned the living room light on to see that the creature was messing with his TV It ripped the back off and appeared to be doing something with the now-exposed circuit boards. The television turned on, flipped through a bunch of channels quickly, and settled on a porn movie.
“She’s asleep, damn it! Now quit fucking with my television!” Dan grabbed a souvenir baseball from the mantel above the fireplace, throwing it at the little devil. It missed by a mile, hitting the TV square in its flat screen and leaving a crack in the glass. Dan groaned in annoyance and ran at the creature. The goblin met him halfway, lunging at him, screaming, and latching onto his face.
“Motherfucker!” Dan screamed himself. He lurched forward, trying to slam it against the nearest wall, trying to get it off him. It wrapped its legs around his face as it once again demanded,
“Where is my goddess?!”
With its body against his face, Dan realized that he was dealing with a female. A female what? Who knew? He was groaning, and she was grunting as he kept slam her into the wall.
He felt her relax slightly, and he managed to pull the little thing off him and throw it out the doorway. He took a deep breath as he saw it bang against the opposite wall of the hallway. Hearing a chuckling sound behind him, he turned to see Bast sitting there in her cat form, her tail swaying.
“Why didn’t you help me?” he grunted.
“‘Cause it was too much fun, and how often do you see a gremlin headbutt a human in the ass?”
“Wait, what do you… Gahh!” He suddenly felt something hard push into his rear end, causing him to fall on his stomach. He quickly turned over to see the gremlin clawing at him. Its mouth was open to reveal needle-like teeth, its jet-black eyes locked on his. It looked like a demon, but with soft feminine features and heavy scars over her eyes.
“Bring me my goddess, Male!” it screamed.
Dan called out,
“Bast! Do something! Come on!"He wrestled the little creature, which was holding onto him like there was no tomorrow. Her legs were like iron.
"Oh, I will,” Bast promised. “Where’s the popcorn? This is hilarious!” She laughed, rolling on her back.
“Well, catch this!” Dan managed to dislodge the gremlin, and threw the creature at Bast. His aim was better than with the baseball.
“For the Goddess!” the creature shrieked. She was big enough to smother Bast’s cat form, and she started biting on Bast’s ear. To Dan, it looked like a small child playing too rough with a family pet.
Bast let out a blood-curdling screech.
“Help me! I as a Goddess command you!” She was gyrating her body and trying to wriggle out of the gremlin’s grasp, but the gremlin seemed to have the energy of a child on a sugar rush and held the cat firmly.
“Oh, I’ll help you all right. Just let me get the popcorn.” He ran into the kitchen, filled the first bowl he could grab with warm water from the sink, then ran back into the living room and threw it at the two fighting creatures.
Bast screamed,
“No! Don’t get her wet!” But it was too late. The water landed on both her and the gremlin.
The gremlin stopped moving, allowing Bast to wriggle out of her grasp, move a few feet away, and start nervously licking herself.
The gremlin stood there for a second, dripping. her body shaking. She suddenly let out a scream as something popped out of her back. Dan blinked a few times, as the object that had emerged from her fell to the floor next to her, then enlarged and somehow took on the shape of another damn gremlin!
She wasn’t an exact duplicate of the original gremlin, standing there naked with long blue hair, lighter skin, and eyes that were red instead of black. The original gremlin glared at this new version. Dan could only hear his own heartbeat and Bast’s nervous purring.
The gremlin suddenly screamed, “There can be only one Gizzy!” It somehow pulled a hammer twice its size out of nowhere, slamming it down squarely on the head of the duplicate, squishing it into a pancake. The event took a moment to sink in. Dan finally screamed, “What the flying fuck?!” while Gizzy, as she was apparently named, continued to hammer away at the round, multicolored object that had briefly been another gremlin.
At last, a tired voice called out,
“What’s going on?”
Gizzy stopped hammering. Dan stopped questioning his life choices. Bast stopped licking herself and exhaustedly rolled onto her back.
Annabelle was standing in the doorway wearing a black teddy under a red silk bathrobe that wasn’t tied closed. Dan felt his jaw drop as he almost forgot about his attacker. A wide smile appeared on Gizzy’s face, showing off those sharp teeth. She was breathing heavily as she suddenly jumped into Annabelle’s arms. Dan steeled himself to intervene, but then realized that the little monster was hugging Annabelle.
“Goddess, O great Goddess. I’ve missed you!” Gizzy was now kissing her arm over and over again, just a big old ball of sunshine.
Dan shook his head, finally asking,
“Annabelle, who is that. No, what is that?”.
Annabelle laughed nervously.
“Oh, her. Well, this is Gizmo. She’s a follower of mine, and she’s a Gremlin… honestly, she’s really a nice girl.”
Dan wanted to roll his eyes, but didn’t want to annoy Annabelle.
“Yeah, she’s real nice. I mean, she broke in here and really did a number on me, and then attacked Bast… Also, okay, what the flying hell happened there when she got wet, and suddenly there was a second one and she smashed it with a damn hammer?”
Annabelle glared at Gizmo, who was in her arms and trying to nuzzle against the goddess’s bosom.
“Gizzy, is this true?” she asked. The gremlin looked away in shame and dropped out of Annabelle’s arms.
“Yes, but I was looking for you. You went missing, and I thought he kidnapped you. I wanted to save Goddess.” She looked toward the floor and shuffled her feet.
“Gizmo! That is horrible. Now, apologize to Dan. He is my husband now! You treat him with respect.” She wagged her finger, and Gizmo looked sad and quite upset. Tears appeared in her big black eyes. She shuffled over towards Dan.
Dan almost kicked her, but she suddenly gave him a hug. She sniffled as she laid her head against his stomach.
“I’m so sorry, Goddess’s Husband. Please forgive me. I didn’t mean to hurt you!” His stomach felt damp from tears, and then she started kissing his stomach over and over again.
“It’s okay, just— Don’t try and kill me again. Also, please don’t break my TV.”
Gizzy broke the hug, nodded, and said with a big smile,
“I can fix it!”
She suddenly began pulling tools out of nowhere as she ran toward the TV. Dan watched her, not sure what to say, as Annabelle walked over and wrapped her arms around him.
“Try not to be mad at her. She’s a nice creature. She’s just passionate about her goals. She can overdo things, though.” There was suddenly a crash, and Dan looked over to see his television lying on its back on the floor, the screen now spiderwebbed with cracks as Gizzy was hitting it with a hammer.
“Just to warn you, gremlins have a habit or messing with tech, but have trouble actually fixing things, so the TV might not be the same after this.”
“Great, just great.” Dan rubbed his head in pure annoyance.
Annabelle reached over and caressed his chest, while she nibbled his ear as then whispered,
“Gremlins are also amazing fucks. I should know- They might reproduce asexually, but they’re still anatomically correct in the ways you’re thinking.” She licked his neck as her hand snuck over to grope his cock. Dan couldn’t help but feel his cheeks turning crimson as Annabelle turned around, wiggling her ass as she headed back toward the bedroom.
Dan gulped and called out,
“Um, Gizzy… don’t set anything on fire. I’m heading to bed. Also, fix the door!” There was a loud grunt from the Gremlin, who was now doing something to the TV with a giant monkey wrench, a big grin on her face.
Dan sighed as he followed Annabelle off to bed. He needed a good night’s sleep. Annabelle was already back under the covers with her eyes closed, and he wondered, what do goddesses even dream about? He wondered if they even could dream. Every question he had seemed to raise at least two more as time went on. Hell, he hadn’t even believed in a god, but now he was married to a goddess, had another goddess that kept hanging around his apartment, and now had his life invaded by a gremlin, something he’d thought was a fictional creature an hour ago.
His life was truly strange. He got into bed and just stared at the sleeping Annabelle for a long time. Finally, he got under the covers and got comfortable. In some ways, he was feeling more at home.
An old song came to mind:
I’ve been searching for the daughter of the Devil himself. I’ve been searching for an angel in white. I’ve been waiting for a woman who’s a little of both.
In some ways, he thought, maybe he’d found that woman — that goddess, though he kept wondering about her. He questioned everything that he might have once believed in as his heart skipped a beat. Slowly he began falling asleep. For a second, he thought he felt a hand pressing against him.
- - -
Dan groaned as he woke up, the light from the window showing that it was early in the morning. When he tried getting up, he found he couldn’t.
“W—What?” he muttered as he lifted his head. The little gremlin was lying on top of him, faintly snoring in a surprisingly cute way, her jumpsuit off as she laid on her back naked, her hair a complete mess. She was atop the covers, so Dan could see her small breasts moving up and down as she inhaled and exhaled. He looked over and saw that Annabelle was still asleep, the covers kicked off her, one leg down off the bed, and one arm across his upper chest. She was snoring as well, a bit louder than Gizzy
Trying to extricate himself, Dan looked to his other side to see Bast curled up between his body and the edge of the bed, now in the form of a black cat. Her tail was whipping him in the side of the arm. At least she wasn’t snoring.
Dan muttered, “I admit I’ve always fantasized about having multiple women in bed with me… But this wasn’t what I was expecting it to be like.”
Eventually, Dan was able to pull himself out from under the pile. He got dressed and headed into the kitchen, seeing that the place was still a bit of a mess. At least the front door was back in place, so neighbors passing by wouldn’t be able to see in. He’d probably do some cleaning later. He put some bread in the toaster and some bacon in a pan, standing over the stove as it cooked.
“Hey, babe,” he suddenly heard Annabelle say. He turned his head to see her enter the kitchen. a small smile on her face, once again wearing the robe that was clinging onto her perfect figure. “What’s up?” she asked.
“Nothing much. Just making breakfast, that’s all.” He flipped the bacon over. The sweet sizzling sound was like music to his ears. The toast popped out of the toaster.
“Aww, you could’ve woken me up. I’m sure I could’ve cooked something very nice for us.” She wrapped an arm around him. Dan felt her firm breasts pressing against him. He shuddered, imagining what she might make, remembering what she had come up with in the past.
“It’s fine,” he assured her. “I enjoy cooking sometimes. Besides, you’ve cooked the last couple of meals. I wanna do something for you.” He smiled at her. Annabelle nodded as she pulled back.
“Okay, though I can’t wait to try what you made.” She smiled back and went to sit at the dining table.
Dan served the simple breakfast. Annabelle clearly enjoyed the food. She ate several extra pieces of bacon while Dan finished dressing and getting ready to head off to work.
He returned to the kitchen, and Annabelle said, “Have a good day, sweetie.” She stood up to give him a kiss on the cheek.
Dan nodded and said with a smile,
“Thanks, and please keep Gizzy from burning the apartment down…”
“Don’t worry, I will. Bast will keep an eye on her while I’m working.”
Dan nodded, though he wasn’t sure what might happen. He sighed as he left the apartment, noticing that the door wasn’t actually attached to its hinges. He made it to his car, and as he turned the ignition on, the radio began playing.
The full moon is calling, the fever is high, and the wicked wind whispers and moans, you got your demons and you got desires.
Dan couldn’t help but feel more similarities between his life and this song. Just one of those days, one of those nights. He felt himself getting lost in the song, spacing out as he drove. It seemed to last until he finally realized that he was in the parking lot at work.
He shook his head as he looked around and sighed as he got out of the car. As he headed off into the factory, the song was still stuck in his head, and he hummed to himself. I’ve been looking for the daughter of the devil himself, I’ve been looking for a woman in white.
Today there was a bit of a supply shortage, and he wasn’t working at his usual magnet station. Instead, he was working with die-cuts. He liked the feel of grabbing things, but at this station —thanks to one moron who decided to run his finger through the blade — he had to wear thick gloves, with the threat of being written up if he took them off. The song had finally exited his head, and now he was simply thinking about watching a ballgame tonight. The Cubs were going to be playing the Red Sox. He wished he could go to an actual game one of these days, but it was just one of those things.
He had just set one finished part aside when he heard someone say his name from behind him. He’d been too lost in thought, and so he practically jumped out of his skin as he turned around. It was Ash, and something seemed off — he was frowning, with no sign of his usual relaxed smile
“Something wrong?” Dan asked.
Ash shook his head and said,
“Everything’s fine as far as I know, but the big boss wants to see you.”
Dan couldn’t help but curse under his breath.
Mr. Smith was a pain in the ass, especially when he was in a mood. Dan remembered the time a new guy complained about how long it was taking him to get off probation, and went straight to the vice president when his 90 days were up. Apparently Mr. Smith had intercepted him, grabbed his shoulders, and personally walked him to the door, telling him that he wouldn’t be hired. Dan shuddered wondering what the guy might want to talk to him about. Hell, Dan did everything he could to avoid even being near the guy. Thankfully he only seemed to show up in his department every once in a long while.
Ash continued, “No idea what it’s about. Just heard from HR. He wants to talk to you, and soon. Don’t worry, I’m sure it’s nothing.” Ash patted Dan’s back.
Dan took off his gloves and gave a slight thumbs-up. He removed his goggles and headed off to the other side of the building. His heart thumped as he prayed to God— Hell, he was praying to Annabelle that he wasn’t going to be fired. It took him a second to laugh as he realized he was praying to his own wife. Truly, his life was weird.
Dan headed up the stairs and found himself walking into the general manager’s office. He was instantly confused as he walked in. Mr. Smith was a large Black man who wore fine suits and a black tie. The man sitting behind the desk was thin and white, his hair slicked back, wearing a gray suit that had seen better days, drinking from a bottle of scotch. He was clean-shaven and slightly handsome.
“Um… Where’s Mr. Smith?” Dan asked, standing only halfway through the door. Something about the man was giving off real red flags. Warning lights seemed to be flashing in Dan’s brain.
“Oh, please come in. Don’t worry. Mr. Smith had to leave. Something came up, something about his daughter being in the hospital. Don’t worry about it. Take a seat.” He pointed toward the chair that was across the desk.
“Okay, so who are you?”
“Well, you can call me Mr. Liesmith. Take a seat. I want to talk with you.” Liesmith grabbed a stack of papers and he straightened them out, though his eyes seemed to remain on Dan. Dan shuddered and walked in. The door closed behind him with a faint click, but Dan didn’t notice as he sat down.
